Tiny Home Project

The ideas are still flowing for my future tiny home. I’ve raised no money for this project unfortunately, but am still hopeful that one day I will build my dream nomad-like home with a interior style similar to this one as seen on Tiny House Nation, a rustic, industrial combo. I also love the exterior of this 350 sq. foot home, but the size would be best for a less nomadic plot of land.

Cedar shingle siding is definitely going to be an asset of the exterior on mine, as well as bright or pastel painted element. I love the metal, adding a more industrial feel and as I’m always seeing these metal (fence door) sheets for free on Craigslist in my area, it be easy and cheap to incorporate. Speaking of cheap!

My tiny home is a heavily budgeted project. I’ve combed Pinterest numerous times finding blog posts of people who have created their home for under $10,000 — only finding a few, but that is my goal. Take a look a how I plan to budget and skimp where I can to keep costs low.

TRADE FOR SERVICES

I’m a freelancer graphic designer that services many small businesses. Apart of the tiny home building process of collecting materials and getting help with some jobs is to trade for it! I am currently excepting many trades for graphic design, web design, or eCommerce services.

SCOUR SOCIAL MEDIA

I’m a member of my local Facebook online sales/garage sales group. It’s a great place to find things for the house that people might be getting rid of. For instance there is a guy on here who sells barn wood, a staple I might be using either the construction or the decor. I plan to collect as much as I can on a deal and build the house around those items I keep seeing on the site like mini fridges, sinks, decor, and furniture.

CRAIGSLIST, BABY!

This will be another main source for the materials I will purchase before the build. Windows can cost an un-godly amount of money, but if you check out the FREE section of your local Craigslist page, you might notice, like my area, that many people are getting rid of mis-matched windows for free. My plan only involves 3–4 windows. To cut down on cost, no money down for windows is a big life saver!

RESTORES

Habitat for Humanity is a great non-profit that helps build homes for the needy. They also set up “Restores” around the U.S. There might be one near you if you Google and check it out. Head to these store for things like paint, siding, windows, doors, kitchen cabinets, sinks, mattresses, and more. All used, but all usable! They are often at a low (garage sale style) price. Loads of savings there!

YOUR LOCAL CONTRACTORS

I’ve heard of people doing this, but don’t quite know if I’d have the guts to walk up to contractor’s office and ask, “Have any materials you don’t want!?” in fear of a black eye! The word on the (tiny home) “street” is that contractors and home builders often have excess building supplies like wood etc from their last jobs that go un-used, while they have already put the capitol into these materials they may be willing to un-load them to you at a discount price just to get some money back out of their loss. Worth a shot.

DONATIONS

While I don’t expect his to be a success, I do have a GoFundMe campaign for the build. Any cent would help towards this build, but I understand there are so many in actual need out there on sites like GoFundMe that you should consider more important campaigns out there to contribute to.